The Fairy Glen — Attraction in Skye

Short summary - amazing! I love it when it is green with greener and fresh light green...

More detailed review to follow

Very often in Scotland we wondered why there are no signs explaining why a place is called what it is called, how it was created... Why there are no leaflets or maps in the car park or on the way (we admire parks in the USA where you can get maps and leaflets for free, in the visitor centres, when you enter the park...)... We can find signs telling us how to behave, don't step on the grass, QR codes to navigate to the page telling us how to behave...

Sheep and other cute animals live freely here... but why this place is called Fairy Glen, for example, we can only imagine. Or browse the internet, which is what I'm doing now at home (I found some interesting legends about this place at https://www.thetravel.com/how-fairy-glen-got-its-name-what-to-do-there/). But when I'm in such a wonderful place, I don't feel like internet browsing, I'd rather read about it on info boards.

Of course, the place is incredibly beautiful. Such terraced pyramids (they just don't look like they could have been made by nature), lush green... A "castle" - the remains of a stone hill you can climb... A photographer's paradise in all weathers. Sunrise, sunset... The stone circle is man-made (and, according to some online articles, regularly dismantled by locals - sadly, in my opinion)... On the web it is possible to find much larger stone circles that were there in the past. Do not expect it to be as impressive now. I include the photo in the past and now .... Sometimes there is no circle at all. I do not understand why someone dismantled the circle. Yes, it was artificial, not created by fairies or the power of nature... but it was so beautiful. And stones are nature after all... and if worried about moss and greenery that might be damaged by those stones... It is Scotland, it rains too often and the greenery will come back in no time.

At peak times it will be practically impossible to park here. We had a hard time avoiding oncoming cars on the single lane road. There is a charge for parking. There are no toilets.

There is no "no drone" zone yet, so please respect the drone rules about flying over crowds etc, don't disturb animals, be respectful, drone when there are not many people... so it could stay open for dronists as you can see much more beauty from above.

The walk is not very demanding, could be done by almost anyone. There were people with "to-do and checkbox lists" - ticking "I was there" and left by 5-10 minutes. There were people who could spend 1-2 hours there and some who could spend days there (but have to pay for parking again and again).

We were there in mid-June 2024 and it was incredibly green, fresh, wonderful, calming green. You can often see it with brown grass scorched by the sun.

Many trails are "barricaded" by the ropes. On many photos on the internet you can see that the paths are different in time. When you stand on the top you can see waterfalls in the horizon, so you can try and continue there...

The Fairy Glen became quite popular the past few years. Social Media playing a part....but without I might have not know about it as well. We actually didn't expect much, but were surprised by this small, but oh so charming area.

All the famous spots are only about a 10-15min walk away from the main parking lot. Even some visitors seemed out of breath and calling it a hike (!), it's actually just a short walk with a quick steep section that doesn't take a trained person to climb. It's really easy. Even though I would at least recommend sneakers, not sandals or so. And of course it's a near impossible task for strollers, wheelchairs and visitors with walking disabilities.

The "Castle" Ewen is visible from far away. But it's not an actual castle, but a rock formation. Named for its looks, because it really resembles some tower ruins. Arriving on top you will meet the first stone circle and then a large natural platform with wonderful views of the Glen Conon. It was a foggy and cloudy day. But that in my opinion just added to the magical atmosphere. Even though there aren't Fairy at work here. The stones in the circles are place by visitors and this isn't appreciated for many (good) reasons by the locals. And they do remove them from time to time...but they get being put back all the time.

If you go back the way you came up (the first path up) you will miss the second and bigger circle. Take the further path down to come across it.

There were visitors, but not as many as we thought. And the green glen, the views and all the little sights (including a good number of sheep) were far more impressive than we hoped for. It is indeed an amazing, pretty and magical spot here on Skye. It's a nice little walk. Even our English Bulldog managed fine - walking both ways - up...

Well …. ( and no apologies for the language ) … Skye council have bastardised the place !! I can appreciate that it was a busy place and tourists flocked to the place ….. but … they’ve added parking meters ( granted they were there the last time we were here ) …. and they are monitored !!! We say two cars with tickets ??? W.T. F### and as we have been told the money apparently goes to Inverness and not to Skye. PLUS … there are ‘walkways’ here now, cordoned off areas, there’s steps being constructed, and the ‘Fairy Ring’ ( as seen in many pictures ) has been carefully designed and laid out [ presumably for pictures. ] …. The upshot is it’s now a tourist attraction, whereas before it was somewhere that tourists went. Trust me there’s a big difference !!! If you’re on Skye go …. but it’s lost its mystical appeal and becomes another quick stop on the tourist trek. Marks out of ten Skye Council …. 2 an£ I’m feeling generous because of...